Berat
Berat was a Cardassian crewman on the Swift Striker in 2370. Prior to the Revanche party taking over, he had been systems control officer to Farside Station, where he held the rank of glinn. However, after the Revanchists came to power his father, two uncles, and brother were hanged in a public square. After three days of hanging, the stoning began. At this time Berat threw a stone at his family so as not to appear "soft on traitors", an action he was ashamed of. Berat himself was not executed because having been stationed on the other side of Cardassian space from Bajor, he could not be linked to the "wormhole sellout scandal," and had signed a denunciation. After the Revanche party consolidated its power, Berat was stripped of his commission and became a low-grade technician assigned to the Swift Striker. While aboard the Swift Striker, the other crewmembers often beat him and referred to him as "traitor". Subofficer Halek twice ordered Berat to disassemble an airlock door, the second time telling him to skip the pressure check despite regulations. When Berat tried to state regulations, Halek accused him of disobeying a direct order. Berat then attacked and killed Halek with his own phaser. After the altercation, Berat escaped to Deep Space 9, stunning a Cardassian guard on the way. Later, Nog found Berat hiding in a deserted crew lounge in the station's lower core. Nog agreed not to turn Berat in, in return for repairing certain items, such as replicators (thus making Nog a profit). When Quark found out about Berat and Nog's "repair business", he decided to take over and hid Berat in a hidden room beneath the holosuites and next to Quark's office. Jake Sisko became aware of the situation and took time to speak to Berat, learning his reasons for fleeing, and though Nog's exploitation bothered him, he withheld the information from his father. When Odo found Berat in the secret room, he shoved Nog at Odo, knocking them down. Berat then ran out into the corrider and stunned O'Brien. After stunning O'Brien, Berat ran out of Quark's onto the Promenade. When two security officers beamed onto the Promenade, Berat turned his phaser onto himself and fired at his own head. Security officer Occino stunned him with her phaser at the same time. Berat's phaser beam was deflected and despite it being on lethal setting he survived and was taken to the infirmary. As a result of the stun beam, Berat suffered four to six percent of residual nerve damage, and was informed by Doctor Bashir that he might recover half of that in a few months. When he woke up, he became violent and tried to get a sharp instrument away from a Bajoran technician. Subsequently, he was placed in a restraining field, with a Starfleet security officer standing guard. In the interim, Jake's guilt became too much and he explained to a surprised and disappointed Benjamin Sisko that Berat's alleged crimes had been in self-defense and that his desperation stemmed from political persecution. Sisko went to speak to Berat directly and corroborated Jake's story. At that point, Berat requested Federation asylum, which Sisko granted. When a bomb was found attached to one of the station's antimatter containment pods, Berat used his expertise with the Nor-class station to assist O'Brien in removing the entire pod (because removing just the bomb might have set it off). After the Revanche government fell, Gul Dukat, who Berat knew personally, arranged to have Berat transferred to his ship's crew. Berat's rank was restored retroactively, thus negating his original crime of Halek's murder (in the Cardassian military, striking a superior officer is a capital offense, and thus Halek's life was considered forfeit). Dukat greeted Berat at DS9 and said that he had seen Berat's cousins, and in prison. ( ) Connections category:cardassians category:cardassian Guard personnel category:cDS Swift Striker personnel category:cardassian enlisted personnel category:cardassian glinns category:cardassian operations personnel